One of the last things I did before shutting down my computer before we headed to the airport to go to Paris a couple of weeks ago was submit a short story to the anthology The Spirit of Poe, which is raising funds to help support Poe House in Baltimore, which had its funding from the city cut.
I checked my e-mail en route to the airport and had a glowing acceptance letter from WJ Rosser, one of the editors. I read the contract and digitally signed a copy all before we got to the airport. Ain’t technology grand?
Mr. Rosser blogged about my story today at the Literary Landmark Press blog.
Here’s what he had to say:
We have received remarkable submissions for the anthology, and we’ll have a contributor list by Sunday. I want to highlight one, though.
There’s a little bit of comedy in almost all great horror, but it takes a wonderful writer to satirize Poe while still treating him respectfully. Thankfully, a wonderful writer undertook to do that. Bev Vincent wrote a remarkable and very funny story called The Case of the Tell-tale Black Cat of Amontillado (with Zombies and an Ourang-Outang), and although he offered up “profound apologies to EAP” he needn’t have. The story is wonderful, and we’re lucky to have it. The story has so many references to Poe’s work that we lost count! Look for a contest later on that challenges you to recognize them all. I’ll give you a little taste, though:
“Dupin is my name. You may have heard of me.”
The man didn’t respond. He retreated into the house as if expecting Dupin to follow, so Dupin did. The front room was large and lofty, but even after the man threw open the heavy curtains, light struggled to render distinct the adornments within. Several musty, overstuffed chairs were scattered haphazardly around the perimeter. The bust of a Roman deity, Pallas perhaps, stood on a pedestal next to a desk littered with manuscripts and papers. The room had an overall atmosphere of sorrow and gloom.
Dupin’s host produced a pair of wooden chairs that he placed carefully in the middle of the room, as if by some design. He paid special attention to the location and position of his own chair, and smiled to himself once he was satisfied.
How many so far? No fair counting all three Dupin stories as individual references!
We have other great works here as well, including poetry selected some time ago by the museum for a museum-sponsored time capsule. We have stories from five countries and three continents. We still have some submissions to get to as well.
Help us out, now. We would like thirty more pre-orders to ensure that every expense is covered prior to the book’s release. Pick one up for yourself or for a friend. Thanks again for all of the support.
